An entire quarter of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii is set to be uncovered using drones, lasers and virtual reality, the director-general of the site, Massimo Osanna, said Friday.

View of the unexplored Regio V district [Credit: Parco Archeologico di Pompei]

The new hi-tech digs will take place to the north of the already discovered city, an area that has been unexplored since the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD that buried Pompeii in ash.

View of the unexplored Regio V district [Credit: Parco Archeologico di Pompei]

Measuring a half-hectare in Regio V, the new area includes a buried alley with buildings along it including homes, shops and taverns.

"We expect great discoveries," Osanna said.

Source: ANSA [March 09, 2018]

Work on a new Roma subway station has uncovered an ancient Roman 'Commander's House', the first discovery of its kind in the Italian capital, archaeologists said Friday.

Credit: Soprintendenza Speciale Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Roma

The dig on the Metro C line has turned up a domus connected to the dormitory of a barracks built at the time of Emperor Trajan and then modified by Hadrian.

The dormitory and barracks were discovered at the Amba Aradam stop work site in 2016.

Credit: Soprintendenza Speciale Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Roma

"It is an exceptional discovery because a barracks has never been identified before in Rome, nor a domus connected to the barracks," said Rome's archaeological superintendent, Rossella Rea.

The domus of the commander was found about 12 metres under the level of the Amba Aradam station, near the Basilica of San Giovanni Laterano (St John Lateran). The house will now be dismantled, level by level, and temporarily moved to another site before being placed back at its original site, sources said.

Credit: Soprintendenza Speciale Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Roma

Heated containers will be used to keep it pristine during the move, while work will then resume at the Amba Aaradam metro stop.

Rome Archaeological Heritage Superintendent Francesco Prosperetti said he had already been in touch with national anti-corruption body ANAC chief Raffaele Cantone to help preserve the integrity of the find.

Credit: Soprintendenza Speciale Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Roma

"He assured me that the place will be made accessible to the public and the whole find will be put back in its place," said Prosperetti. "Exactly how this will happen, compatibly with the metro C line, we'll have to see".

Prosperetti said he had "already secured planning and funding" for the project. ANAC and Cantone has to sign off on all major public works in Italy.

Credit: Soprintendenza Speciale Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Roma

The area at and around the Amba Aradam station has already yield a rich archaeological trover.

Last June excavations conducted as part of work for the new C line of the Rome metro uncovered Pompeii-like finds including a dog's skeleton.

Credit: Soprintendenza Speciale Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Roma

The dig has unearthed two spaces dating to the middle of the imperial period which, due to a fire, feature well-conserved parts of a wooden ceiling and furniture.

"The material is only conserved in exceptional environmental and climatic conditions, or after special events like those that took place at Herculaneum and Pompeii," said sources at Rome's special superintendency. "The discovery of a burned wooden ceiling is unique for the city".

Credit: Soprintendenza Speciale Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Roma

The excavation in via dell'Amba Aradam also found the skeleton of the dog, curled up in front of a door and "likely trapped inside the building at the time of the fire," sources said.

The remains of a smaller animal, which have yet to be identified, were also uncovered. A fine black and white mosaic floor was also found.


"What makes this find resemble Pompeii is that we have evidence of a moment in history," said Prosperetti at the time. "The fire that stopped life in this environment allows us to imagine life at a precise moment".

The ongoing excavation is taking place on the southern slopes of the Coelian Hill, one of Rome's seven hills, which in imperial times was home to luxury aristocratic residences and, further to the south, a series of military buildings, including a barracks recently found in Via Ipponio.

The stretch of metro from Amba Aradam to the Imperial Fora is scheduled to be unveiled in 2021.

Source: ANSA [March 02, 2018]

The acoustic qualities of a rock shelter may have been a key factor in its selection as a site for rock art and indicate a spiritual significance to the practice, according to a recent study, while scientists are also looking into whether some caves were chosen as artistic sites because of the view.

Scientists believe that rock art sites were chosen for their visual and acoustic properties [Credit: Curt Harrell]

Professor Margarita Díaz-Andreu and Dr. Tommaso Mattioli, both from the University of Barcelona, Spain, spent two years visiting rock art sites in France, Italy and Spain to compare acoustics and assess their relevance to the choice of location.

'In a cliff such as Baume Brune (in Vaucluse, France), with 43 shelters, why were only eight selected to be painted?' said Prof. Díaz-Andreu. 'There are other apparently similar ones nearby that were left empty. Why?'

Armed with a specialised portable tool for measuring acoustics, the researchers showed the rock art sites studied have distinct acoustic features.

These take the form of either many echoes in the shelters where the art was found, or strong reverberations. At some sites, it was possible to hear sounds from great distances. Other undecorated shelters in the area lacked these special effects.

'We found that in all of the areas that we tested, the people who had chosen places to decorate had selected places with good acoustics,' said Prof. Díaz-Andreu. In two particular sites, the team demonstrated that the places that were decorated were those with more echoes.

Music

This suggests that the rock art sites were used for rituals, or religious ceremonies, and may or may not have involved music.

'As archaeologists we are obsessed with material culture,' said Prof. Diaz-Andreu, 'But in fact, sound and music are very important to the way in which we feel and the way we react. Sound has special properties that facilitate us to reach a type of mental state that is prone to enhance religious feelings.'

Dr. Jamie Hampson, a researcher at the University of York, UK, who works on a project exploring the modern-day use of rock art (see below), agreed that the rock art has spiritual significance. 'We've got a lot of ethnography from groups in South Africa in particular about the rock face being a veil between this world and the spirit world,' he said.

Prof. Díaz-Andreu and Dr. Mattioli believe that prehistoric humans may have used echolocation techniques such as tongue clicks, cane tapping and handclapping to select the shelters. However, this is impossible to prove.

'Clicking and handclapping do not leave a trace in the archaeological record,' Prof. Díaz-Andreu said.

Rock art is found at hundreds of thousands of sites throughout the world. Throughout history, people from all walks of life have used rock carvings, engravings and paintings to express themselves, and the oldest sites found are more than 65,000 years old.


Manual rubbings

Up until now, researchers have had to take manual rubbings of rock art to analyse in the lab. But this low-tech, 2-D and labour-intensive option meant that important data, such as colour and the 3-D nature of indentations in the rock, were missing.

Now, new zoomable 3-D digital models of rock art sites are providing archaeologists with better tools for analysing data – and they could shed light on why certain sites were chosen. They could also help archaeologists work out whether traces at certain sites are man-made or natural, and potentially identify the styles of individual artists.

Dr. Sue Cobb of the University of Nottingham, UK, led the 3-D-PITOTI project, which developed fully interactive virtual replicas of several rock art sites at Valcamonica, Northern Italy, in high detail.

She said: 'The archaeologists were looking for a way to analyse the content that they were studying in more detail and in different ways. They wanted a better way to view and compare small details of different rock art figures, identify families of figures, and make the 3-D rock art available to their fellow colleagues and the public.'

To build the models, the project team developed an entirely new scanning device to collect images of the rock surface. Specially designed to capture the colour of the rock art and intricate details, at the same time it is lightweight and portable enough to be easily transported across inaccessible areas, hence the nickname 'walking-stick scanner'.

The scanner is so powerful it can reconstruct surface points at 0.1 millimetre spatial resolution, and uses a high=powered flash.

A feature of the finished 3-D models is that you can zoom in and out from the images easily, and virtually fly over the sites. To achieve this effect, the team took photographs from near-range, mid-range and far-range locations to capture the rock art from a range of distances and angles.

The 3-D models can be viewed via a 3-D multi-user touch table, a multi-user 3-D wall display, or individual tablets. Tourists can use the models in museums and visitor centres, to view rock art that is inaccessible or highly vulnerable to damage.

As well as providing a faithful record of art that is one day likely to vanish from exposure to wind, rain and snow, the highly detailed 3-D models are helping scientists answer questions such as whether the view from a particular place was important in selecting the site for decoration.

'Archaeologists can compare rock art images located in different sites,' said Dr. Cobb. 'They ask—is there anything meaningful about those locations and the images of rock art that are placed at that site that can help us understand why that site was meaningful to people at that time?'

Modern-day use of rock art imagery

Rock art sites can be a big tourist draw and scientists have been looking at how the experience can best be managed. Dr. Jamie Hampson from the University of York found that visitor perceptions of artwork and the management of rock art sites in South Africa, Australia and the US were enhanced when there were indigenous tour guides and staff at the sites.

'A lot of visitors point out how much more meaningful their experience is if they're accompanied by a guide who is part of an indigenous group in the area,' explained Dr. Hampson.

It's clear that for many indigenous people, rock art holds a symbolic and spiritual meaning. However, it is often used to create tourist memorabilia, without seeking permission from the relevant indigenous people. Certain images are considered sacred and are not suitable for this kind of use.

'So much of this is about respect and courtesy and taking all possible measures to ensure permission is granted before images are borrowed,' said Dr. Hampson.

The work done by Dr. Hampson's ROCKART project encouraged the employment of more indigenous staff at heritage sites, and raised awareness about image appropriation. The project also aided several Aboriginal corporations in Australia to set up and run their own rock art visitor centres, fueling entrepreneurship in remote areas.

Author: Catherine Collins | Source: Horizon: The EU Research & Innovation Magazine [March 01, 2018]

Over 41 000 cultural goods such as coins, paintings and drawings, furniture and musical instruments, porcelain, archaeological and paleontological objects, books and manuscripts and sculptures were seized all over the world as a result of coordinated law enforcement actions. These seizures were made during the first Global Global Customs-Police Operation, codenamed ATHENA and organised by the World Customs Organisation (WCO) in cooperation with INTERPOL, and during the regional Europe-focused Operation PANDORA II, coordinated by the Spanish Guardia Civil and Europol.

Credit: Europol

Both operations took place from October to early December 2017, with a common action phase from 20 to 30 November 2017, and saw the involvement of customs and police forces from 81 countries. Both, ATHENA and PANDORA II, focused on the illicit trafficking of cultural objects, theft, looting as well as internet sales. Most of the actions were developed and coordinated jointly between Customs and Police on the national level with the support and participation of the experts from the Ministries of Culture and other relevant institutions and law enforcement agencies.

Apart from seizures, there have been tens of thousands of checks and controls in various airports, ports, other border crossing points, as well as in the auction houses, museums and private houses. As a result, more than 200 investigations were opened and 53 persons arrested.

Credit: Europol

Given the global nature of this crime, operation coordination units working 24/7 were established by Europol on one side, and the WCO and INTERPOL on the other, to support the exchange of information as well as disseminate alerts, warnings and perform cross- checks in different international and national databases.

Internet as a facilitator for the illicit trafficking of cultural goods

Internet has changed, as in many other fields of our society, the traditional chains of the illicit trade of cultural goods. It is a new challenge for law enforcement authorities especially for the specialized cultural goods crime units. Now the criminals can reach the collector’s (anywhere in the world) without any intermediate, and out of the traditional channels.

Credit: Europol

Facing this threat, the involved law enforcement agencies monitored thousands of market places, internet announcement has in order to detect and seize looted or stolen cultural goods. Only in this area, 63 new criminal investigations have been opened and more than 6 000 cultural objects have been seized.

In a single successful investigation in Spain, Guardia Civil seized more than 2 000 cultural objects. Most of them were coins from Roman and other Empires and archaeological objects made of ceramic, metal and stone. In addition, 88 pieces of ivory were seized during the searches, including a carving of Christ valued at EUR 6 000 , and 39 firearms of different classification, from historical weapons, such as rifles and shotguns, swords, swords, katanas and a crossbow, revolvers and pistols. The investigation started with the checks of various internet pages dedicated to the sale and purchase of objects of historical value, and is still ongoing.

The Hellenic Police conducted a fruitful investigation in the framework of PANDORA II: during the searches in two residences and in two businesses of a national entrepreneur, they found 41 archaeological objects, for which the collector did not have a corresponding license. Additionally, from a legal collection of 1 133 coins of silver, bronze and gold of the 2nd century B.C. until 200 A.C., 15 coins were missing, and from a legal collection of 105 ancient objects, 26 objects were missing. All the possessed objects of archaeological and cultural value were confiscated, namely 1 252 cultural goods.

Source: Europol [February 23, 2018]

After a five-month-long restoration, parts of the Room of Achilles at Skyros in the Domus Aurea (Golden House in Latin), the vast palace built by Emperor Nero after the great fire of 64 AD in the heart of ancient Rome, are back to their original splendor. The work was carried out thanks to the sponsorship worth 100,000 Swiss francs, or nearly 90,000 euros, provided by the Foundation Isabel & Balz Baechi.

Credit: ANSA

The foundation has previously donated money for renovation work at the sanctuary Sacro Monte di Varallo and at Rome's Villa Farnesina.

The partial restoration started at the Domus Aurea provides an insight into what the palace will look like when more work has been completed, said Alfonsina Russo, the new director of the archaeological area of the Colosseum.

Credit: ANSA

The restoration is "a taste of what we will be able to find at the Domus Aurea", said Russo, referring to work planned for all of the 30,000 square meters of painted surface at the palace. "This palace was a great laboratory of experimentation".

"Here worked architecture masters, painters like Fabullo who had Greek painting as great examples".

Credit: ANSA

Russo also said that the specific restoration work carried out so far has revealed the use of precious materials like the golden leaf, a symbol of the "ostentation and luxury that 'Princeps' Nero loved to surround himself with". Specifically, restorer Claudia Fiorani said that only by cleaning the room's tassels - one on a vault and another on a wall - "the results are surprising".

"We were able to bring back to life characters and anatomic details that surely inspired Renaissance masters", she said.

Credit: ANSA

"This room truly showed all of Nero's luxury", not only "for the extensive use of gold" but also because one of the figures that is not yet entirely visible is shrouded in mystery and has raised the interest of art historians, the restorer explained.

"It is surely a woman and very important because of the use of purpurrissumum to paint her, a very precious and expensive pigment made by crushing millions of mollusks", also said Fiorani, adding that her identity is yet to be discovered.

Credit: ANSA

The partial restoration so far carried out, said the director of the renovation work Maria Bartoli, "is also useful to get an idea on the timing and cost" of the work necessary on the entire building.

Alessandro D'Alessio, the scientific director of the monument, said the past year has been "difficult" but there is hope restoration work will gain new momentum with the appointment of the new director.

Credit: ANSA

"So far we have secured 80% of the painted walls, which was urgent".

The culture ministry has already allocated 13 million euros for more restoration work expected to start by the end of the year, including on the vaults of Trajan, which collapsed in 2010, said D'Alessio.

Credit: ANSA

The director said additional work is already being planned for all of the "16,000 square meters of ceiling surface", possibly with more private sponsors.

Source: ANSA [February 21, 2018]

The remains of a huge necropolis dating back to the 1st century AD have emerged from the archaeological excavations that are running parallel to the works for the new tramway lines in Florence.

Credit: La Repubblica

The area in which the discoveries were made is very large and extends from the spaces around the current railway station, in Via Valfonda to the most northern part, reaching as far as the boulevards.

Credit: La Repubblica

Under Via Valfonda, a skeleton dating back to the first century AD was found, with dozens of vases and oil lamps. Other skeletons with their funeral goods have been discovered between viale Redi and viale Belfiore.

Credit: La Repubblica

"They were probably influential characters, given the richness and quantity of the objects with which they were buried," explains archaeologist Andrea Pessina.

Credit: La Repubblica

From the depths of Piazza Adua, again in the area of the station, there have emerged the remains of "a large room, with huge jars, which could prove to be the equivalent of a modern dyeworks and in Piazza dell' Unità, parts of a domus, then probably transformed into a craft workshop", adds archaeologist Monica Salvini. "These vestiges probably also date back to the first century after Christ."

The intention of the Superintendency is to exhibit the findings in an exhibition.

Source: La Repubblica [February 10, 2018]

Neanderthals in southern Tuscany used fire to manufacture wooden tools used for foraging and hunting around 171,000 years ago, experts have found.

Burned film on the handle end of a 170,000-year old Neanderthal digging stick, found among straight-tusked elephant bones at Poggetti Vecchi, Tuscany [Credit: Aranguren et al./PNAS]

Experts used radiometric dating, which measures the decay of radioactive particles, to establish the age of a trove of wooden implements and bones they uncovered.

The finds furnish some of the earliest evidence of wood processing and fire use by Neanderthals.

The find was made by a team of researchers, including the Ministry of Heritage and Cultural Activities in Florence.

In 2012, excavations for building thermal baths at Poggetti Vecchi, nestled at the foot of a hill in Grosseto in southern Tuscany, turned up the collection of ancient artefacts.

This included wooden sticks and the fossilised bones of a straight-tusked elephant, Palaeoloxodon antiquus.

Charring was discovered on 170,000-year old Neanderthal digging sticks, found among straight-tusked elephant bones at Poggetti Vecchi, Tuscany [Credit: Aranguren et al./PNAS]

Lead archaeologist Biancamaria Aranguren and colleagues dated the site to the late Middle Pleistocene, when early Neanderthals inhabited the region.

Most of the wooden implements were hewn from boxwood branches and likely used as digging sticks.

Such digging sticks have been known to be used for gathering plants and hunting small game.

The ends of the metre long (40 inch) sticks were fashioned into blunt points and had rounded handles useful for foraging.

Cut marks and striations, a series of linear marks, on the sticks bear witness to the manufacturing process.

Close-up views of handles, cut marks and the singed surface of the wooden sticks [Credit: Aranguren et al./PNAS]

Signs of superficial charring and microanalysis of blackened surfaces suggest the use of fire, in addition to stone tools, to scrape and shape the sticks.

Boxwood is among the hardiest and heaviest of European timbers.

It choice as a preferred material suggests the technical mastery of toolmaking by early Neanderthals.

The find also provides some of the earliest evidence for the use of fire for fabricating wooden tools.

Writing in the report, its authors said: 'Wood is a widely available and versatile material, which has admittedly played a fundamental role in all human history.

Straight-tusked elephant tusk found at Poggetti Vecchi, c. 170,000 years old [Credit: Aranguren et al./PNAS]

Wood, however, is most vulnerable to decomposition. Hence, its use is very rarely documented during prehistory.

'The present study yields new insights into the cognitive abilities of the early Neanderthals in wooden tool production and pyrotechnology.

'The early Neanderthals from the late Middle Pleistocene site of Poggetti Vecchi were able to choose the appropriate timber and to process it with fire to produce tools.

'The artefacts recall the so-called “digging sticks,” multipurpose tools used by all hunter-gatherer societies.'

The full findings were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Author: Tim Collins | Source: Daily Mail [February 07, 2018]

The J. Paul Getty Museum announced today the acquisition of an early 5th-century B.C. bronze appliqué depicting the Etruscan Sun God Usil.

Appliqué depicting the Sun God Usil, Etruscan, 500 - 475 B.C. Italy, Vulci. Bronze. H: 20 cm (7 7/8 in.) [Credit: The J. Paul Getty Museum, Villa Collection, Malibu, California]

“This bronze appliqué that probably decorated an Etruscan chariot or funeral cart is of exceptional quality, representing the peak period of an artistic milieu in which Greek and Italic aesthetics merged to create a distinctively Etruscan style,” says Timothy Potts, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum. “Bronze statuettes and reliefs are a particular strength of the Getty’s collection of Etruscan art and the Usil appliqué’s rarity and quality will assure it a significant presence in the newly reinstalled gallery at the Villa dedicated to this fascinating culture.”

The appliqué represents the solar deity Usil (the equivalent of the Greek god Helios and Roman god Sol), who stands with spread wings and dramatically splayed fingers. A nimbus of rays surrounds the head of the god, who wears a diadem, necklace, and a mantle over his shoulders. At the thighs, the figure merges into a broad plate decorated with undulating lines, suggesting the sea from which the sun emerges at daybreak and sinks at dusk.

Ornamental reliefs such as this functioned as fittings on funeral carts and chariots, which often accompanied the burials of Etruria’s equestrian elite. Probably affixed to the sides of the vehicle, the winged god reflects the imagery of a celestial divinity driving the chariot of the sun across the sky, which was common in Greek and later Etruscan art. The earliest Usil plaque, in the Vatican Museums, was reportedly found at Roma Vecchia between 1760 and 1775 and was illustrated by Francesco Piranesi in 1778. In 1845, four similar plaques were discovered in the Tomb of the Quadriga at Vulci, which preserved the skeletons of horses. Among the appliqués held in the National Etruscan Museum of the Villa Giulia in Rome, the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, and other museums, some may belong to that burial. Of that group, the Getty’s Usil appliqué is the best surviving example. Although displaying slight variations in size, facial features, form of the plate, and position of the rivets, all are associated with a preeminent bronze-casting workshop in Vulci.

This newest acquisition will go on display in the reinstalled Getty Villa when it opens in April 2018, and will join several related Etruscan bronzes, including a vessel foot depicting Usil in winged boots running over the crests of waves; and a lion head attachment with glass paste eyes, which likely capped the end of a chariot pole. A pair of candelabra with finials of a youth dancing and playing castanets is also attributed to a Vulcian workshop, which produced fine metalware for an international Mediterranean clientele.

The appliqué was acquired in the 1920s in Monte Carlo by Sylvie Bonneau-Arfa (b. about 1907), née Fatma-Enayet Arfa, the daughter of the Persian ambassador to the Russian court. In 1970 the appliqué went up for auction but failed to sell and was returned to the family. It had been brought to the attention of the Swiss archaeologist Hans Jucker in 1968, and was subsequently on loan to the Historisches Museum in Bern, Switzerland during the 1970s. The Getty acquired it at auction from the descendants of Ms. Bonneau-Arfa.

“This wonderful addition to the collection alongside the related objects in the new Etruscan gallery will introduce visitors to the art of Etruscan bronze sculpture, the significance of celestial divinities in Etruscan religion, elite burial practices, and the impressive parade armor of ancient Italy,” says Jeffrey Spier, senior curator of antiquities at the J. Paul Getty Museum.

Source: The J. Paul Getty Museum [February 07, 2018]

For five years, restorers worked on the mosaics on the dome of the narthex, the entrance to St. Mark’s Basilica, Venice’s most famous monument. The mosaics, the most ancient of the basilica, were at risk of detaching from their wall support and were therefore consolidated, then cleaned.

Anastasis (The Harrowing of Hell) mosaic, c. 1180-1200, Middle Byzantine, Saint Mark's Basilica, Venice [Credit: Steven Zucker/Flickr]

Made over a long period of time, between 1094, the year the Basilica was dedicated to St. Mark, the patron saint of Venice, and 1545, the mosaics depict the Virgin and Child, the four evangelists, eight apostles, and St. Mark in papal attire. They were probably started by Greek mosaicists, and later carried on by local craftsmen.

Anastasis (The Harrowing of Hell) mosaic, c. 1180-1200, Middle Byzantine, Saint Mark's Basilica, Venice [Credit: Steven Zucker/Flickr]

The golden mosaics inside St. Mark’s are among the Basilica’s highlights, covering 4,000 square meters. In this splendid setting, some of the most memorable events in the history of Venice, and the Western world, took place: in 1177, pope Alexander III met with emperor Frederick Barbarossa after the Battle of Legnano; in 1201, soldiers coming from all of Europe on their way to the fourth Crusade met right in the Basilica.

Crossing dome, begun 1063, Middle Byzantine, Saint Mark's Basilica, Venice [Credit: Steven Zucker/Flickr]

St. Mark’s Basilica was everybody’s church: people gathered here in times of celebration, and also in times of danger (they took refuge in 1797 during the Napoleonic invasion of the city).

Crossing dome, begun 1063, Middle Byzantine, Saint Mark's Basilica, Venice [Credit: Steven Zucker/Flickr]

The building was erected in the 9th century, after two Venetian merchants brought to Venice the remains of St. Mark, who was already venerated because he had been the first evangelizer of the area. To honor his remains, a church was built, which, over time, grew larger, more beautiful and increasingly important.

Nave, begun 1063, Middle Byzantine, Saint Mark's Basilica Venice,  [Credit: Steven Zucker/Flickr]

St. Mark’s Basilica is one of the most famous examples of Byzantine architecture in Italy. It has a large dome at the center and four smaller ones on the arms; the façade, also decorated with beautiful mosaics, features five portals; above the central one are four bronze horses.

Author: Silvia Donati | Source: Italy Magazine [February 03, 2018]

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My book ‘UFO Contacts in Italy – Volume One’ will be published by FLYING DISK PRESS in the UK on February 1st, 2018. Much of the information in this book is being published in English for the very first time. The book contains a whole array of UFO/alien contact cases from Italy but surely one of the most unusual incidents is this one from 1957. It is the only case that I am aware of that allegedly has photographs of the inside of the UFO. What was destined to be called “the Friendship case” started near

By Dr Roberto Pinotii The UFO Chronicles 1-20-18

Photo of a Purported Extraterrestrial Pilot

About the author:

Roberto Pinotti was born in Venice, Italy, in 1944. He is an aerospace journalist and author and the main Italian scholar in ufology, with a degree in politics and sociology from the University of Florence. Dr. Pinotti is a world-class UFO expert. He is the only living founder of Italy’s Centro Ufologico Nazionale (CUN), one of the world’s oldest and most authoritative private UFO study organizations formed 50 years ago. Formerly an officer of the NATO Italian Army III Missile Brigade, he also co-operated with the Italian Intelligence community as a consultant for UFOs and was given important official documents by the Italian Department of Defense and was a writer for the Rivista Aeronautica of the Italian Air Force. Over the last 50 years he has been the the Editor of CUN’s ufological magazine, publishing more than 250 issues.

Read more »

A miniature Pompeii may be hiding beneath the temples in the Selinunte Archaeological Park in Sicily, according to archaeologists, geologists and geomorphologists working at the site.

Aerial view of Selinute [Credit: AIGeo Press Office via ANSA]

Geologists from the University of Camerino, using a thermal imaging camera mounted on a drone, found thermal anomalies traceable to important structures that were buried around 2,700 years ago, stretching from "Temple M" downwards towards the port, said geoarchaeologist Fabio Pallotta, a consultant to the University of Camerino and the Selinunte Archaeological Park.

Aerial view of Selinute [Credit: AIGeo Press Office via ANSA]

"It was likely a succession of temples and tubs full of clear spring water that flowed towards the African sea offering precious refreshment to travelers at the border," Pallotta said.

Thermal image of Selinute [Credit: AIGeo Press Office via ANSA]

"From these thermal images, everyone can see how the heat gradient delineates perfect geometric designs in the area surrounding the ruins of Temple M, which is now located along the right-hand shore of the Selino River, but originally came forth in all of its beauty from the far west promontory of the enchanting lagoon," he said.

Thermal image of Selinute [Credit: AIGeo Press Office via ANSA]

Thus far, fourteen flights have been undertaken by a hexacopter, a six-armed drone, which revealed temperatures of both living and chemically inactive materials.

LIDAR scan of Selinute [Credit: AIGeo Press Office via ANSA]

Selinunte Archaeological Park Director Enrico Caruso said the discovery will allow the park to find better solutions for protecting the heritage of Selinunte, one of Europe's largest archaeological parks.

Cylindrical altar in terracotta III century BC from the the casa del sacello (sacred house)  in the north FF1 block [Credit: AIGeo Press Office via ANSA]

"There are still many structures to investigate," Caruso said. "We need to understand the geological structure of the area and why the Selinuntites chose it for their settlement. The city is certainly much larger than its modern-day counterpart," he said.

Cylindrical altar in terracotta III century BC from the the casa del sacello (sacred house)  in the north FF1 block [Credit: AIGeo Press Office via ANSA]

While giving a tour of the area to members of the Italian and international press, Caruso also announced other discoveries from the site.

Catapult balls related to the Roman siege of the First Punic War, 250 BC  [Credit: AIGeo Press Office via ANSA]

"In Selinunte we have found pipes built by the Greeks that provided homes with running water, new domestic areas devoted to religion such as cylindrical altars, and the most ancient depiction in the entire Greek world of Hekate, a figure of pre-Indo-European origin who was depicted in Greek mythology. Hekate reigned over evil demons, the night, and the moon," he said.

Source: ANSA [January 18, 2018]

The second tranche of archaeological excavations in the Valley of the Temples has revealed the top tiers on which spectators sat to watch plays and public meetings in the city of the 4th century BC.

Credit: La Repubblica

This has been a long-awaited discovery by the archaeologists of the Sicilian park and the Politecnico di Bari, who are engaged in the investigation.

Credit: La Repubblica

"We are halfway through the work", says the director of the archaeological park of Agrigento, Giuseppe Parello, "and by the end of January we will have completed these excavations that have confirmed the structure of the theatre."

Credit: La Repubblica

The large trapezoidal blocks were located a few centimetres below the ground beneath which the Hellenistic theatre "sleeps".

Credit: La Repubblica

"Our hope," says Antonello Tini of the Politecnico di Bari," is to find complete seats in their original position, descending down the slope of the structure, so as to perfectly reconstruct the theatre."

Credit: La Repubblica

The initial investigations showed that the theatre was of considerable dimensions, around 100 metres in diameter.

Credit: La Repubblica

In addition to the stone blocks of the cavea, excavations have brought to light some theatrical masks and lamps, typical objects related to the use of an ancient theatre.

Credit: La Repubblica

A fragment of a red-figure vase has also been found, which will be studied together with the other finds with a view to an exhibition that will be set up in the coming months.

Credit: La Repubblica

At the end of the excavation work, another major excavation campaign will be launched in the spring.


The intention of archaeologists, as Maria Concetta Parello of the Valley of Temples explains, is to bring to light the rest of the structure through stratigraphic investigations.

Source: La Repubblica [January 12, 2018]